Touring - Peugeot touring?

Does anyone use a Peugeot for any kind of touring? I have this bike with nice touring geometry and have recently acquired another Peugeot which will donate nice parts to make it into a tourer. The chainstays on my bike are 18''/450mm, which is plenty long. The wheels are tough aluminium 36 spoke with stainless steel spokes. The bike handles like a dream and it has Carbolite 103 tubing. This bike was purchased in Germany in 1982 (it still has the registration stickers!) and brought over here by a GI. Whatcha think?

It's been a long time since I heard anybody talk Peugeot. Here's my Peugeot experiences: I bought a Peugeot in 1974 and did Bikecentennial (Astoria, Oregon to Jackson, Wyoming) in 1976. I toured Switzerland and Germany with it in 1978, and the Bikecentennial trail again in 1980. I rode on shorter tours and day rides up until a few years ago, when I updated with a Giant. I would have updated with a Peugeot, but they're no longer made. It was a great touring bike, with the exception of the gearing. Back in 1974, road bikes were sold with medium and high gearing only. I had a bike shop install a larger rear cluster in Oregon, then had a triple installed after the tour was over. At a recent 30-year Bikecentennial reunion, I put the Peugeot on display. It looked great and attracted a lot of attention. I think you'll enjoy touring with your Peugeot. Good luck!!

I like Peugeots but I wouldn't classify that one a touring bike. You COULD get away with it but the frame isn't sufficiently strong for full loads, there aren't any frame braze-ons for REAL(tm) touring racks, I would be highly suspicious of the brakes on that bike and it is likely that replacement parts wouldn't be the most easy to come by in Waco, TX.

Certainly the gearing wouldn't be satisfactory for anything but perfectly flat roads.

That looks to be a pretty nice model but I wouldn't recomment it for serious touring.

While it doesn't have the regular braze-ons for a touring bike these days, it has enough. You can put the low riders or other front rack on the BO your fron frnder is on, that's how it's done with double front BOs, the top one is mostly redundant.

The rear can benefit by two brazeons, but if you don't have them one will work fine.

The main thing is to load it up and see how it works for you.

I have a 1981 10-speed Peugeot PX18M, with a 57-cm mixte frame. The bike has the el cheapo Simplex Prestige derailleurs, Normandy hubs with Simplex QR skewers, a Stronglight bottom bracket with an alloy crankset and alloy chainrings, an Atax quill stem, Philippe porteur-style bars, Rigida Chrolux 700c rims, Mafac center-pull brakes, a Soubitez bottle generator on the rear wheel, Lyotard 136R pedals, and chrome-plated fenders. The chainstays are 455 mm, and the wheelbase is 1065 mm. I've used it for several 220+ -mile weekend rides with front & rear panniers. Salvaged from a scrap heap, there is something very 'right' about the way this bike rides.

I like Peugeots but I wouldn't classify that one a touring bike. You COULD get away with it but the frame isn't sufficiently strong for full loads, there aren't any frame braze-ons for REAL(tm) touring racks, I would be highly suspicious of the brakes on that bike and it is likely that replacement parts wouldn't be the most easy to come by in Waco, TX.

Certainly the gearing wouldn't be satisfactory for anything but perfectly flat roads.

That looks to be a pretty nice model but I wouldn't recomment it for serious touring.

Peugeot built tons of models. U-08's and PX-10's are the most famous, and neither would be ideal for touring, but some of the touring specific models would be great for the purpose. Check the LX-50/PLX-50 from 1958/1959. http://home.wanadoo.nl/peugeotshow/ Granted, the odds of finding one of these is rather low, but some of the models made through the '70's would work just fine if you added racks.

I'll agree with Lotum that there is something very "right" about the way these Peugeots ride, even if they have Carbolite 103 frames. The first Peugeot I ever rode back in 1991 was a mountain bike and it too handled great.


I appreciate everyone's input and all the great information! I'll post pics of the finished product.

I also have been a Peugeot fan from the start. I had several UO-10's and a PX-10 or two and they always worked well for me. They WERE twitchy on fast descents but of course my experience is with the largest sizes and in those days most large bikes were twitchy on descents.